Highly successful leaders have systems and routines for almost everything they do, which leaves them time and energy to focus on the things that matter most.

In days gone by, business men had housewives – and she was their system. But it’s different now so here’s what you can do instead.

In order to remain on the top of your game, you will need to remove anything that creates friction particularly on low priority items.

Why? Because superfluous daily micro-decision making, relying on willpower, losing your focus and wading through mental, emotional or physical clutter, all drain you and keep you playing small. Without systems you’ll undermine yourself, your potential and your impact, both at home and at the office. It makes it hard to be the best you can be without working too hard at it.

My goal is to halve your effort yet double your impact.  Here’s what to do.

We’ve all heard how Former US President Barack Obama always wore the same suit.
“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” Obama said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

This was one of his productivity secrets and you could do similar but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

“Life is too complicated not to be orderly.”

– Martha Stewart

HOW ELSE CAN YOU REDUCE FRICTION?

Denise Duffield-Thomas in her book Chill and Prosper writes about the Keyless Life. Denise is an Australian author and entrepreneur who helps women deal with their money blocks. She is often in the spotlight and runs her multi-million dollar business on the smell of an oily rag. She is a great role model for other entrepreneurial women but it’s her Keyless Life idea that anyone can, and should implement.

She tells the story of always losing her house keys, so one day, when she was tired of sitting around outside (with small children) waiting (yet again) for someone to show up to let her in, she decided enough was enough and put keyless locks on all the doors. Voilà! Simple life changing idea, removing friction and stress all round.

You can deploy this principle in a range of areas of your life –

• Tired of tangled cords and headsets? Get one for every device you use at home, for workouts and at the office and hang them up. Result? No more low grade stress about tangled or missing cords and head sets = more time and energy to help others.
  
  
• Forget your makeup? I walk to work several days a week and used to forget my makeup. Instead, now I have a makeup kit that stays with my laptop bag and is always there. I also have another kit at my parent’s house in Adelaide along with running shoes and workout gear so I never need to worry about forgetting ever again. Result? Time and space saved when packing = removal of low level stress and more time for glamorous me.
  
  
• Regularly asked for advice and guidance by multiple people in the business and it’s getting in the way of your ability to focus on dial movers? Put a system around it and run a few group advice/training/mentoring sessions over the year, rather than lots of one on ones. Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant write about this in Madam CEO, Get Me a Cup of Coffee. It’s simple, but it works.

SYSTEMATISE YOUR LIFE

Think of your career and life management like a project or job and it needs systems around it to eliminate friction and keep you successful.

What else can you systematise, automate or delegate?

• Bill paying, credit cards and finances – set and forget so you never need to worry about missing a payment ever again. It’s not just grown up. It’s super effective.
  
  
• Updating your CV – create a process so it happens systematically without friction at certain times of the year. Can you write some IFTT code so that when you launch your Applause Folder it automatically opens your CV and prompts you to update it?
  
  
• Your nurture strategy for your personal Board of Directors – set up a Google Alert for items of interest to your individual board members. All you have to do is pick one and send it on with a “found this article, thought of you” type note once a month. Well done! How thoughtful 🤣
  
  
• Life admin – consider hiring a Life Admin Virtual Assistant for 10 hours a month. It’s a game changer and a relatively inexpensive way of delegating your personal stuff and getting you back on track.
  
  
• Fitness adherence – I ❤️ the AIA Vitality app because I get rewarded for going to the dentist, getting regular medical checkups, getting my cholesterol checked and doing fitness activities. I even pay for the privilege and it makes me happier. It’s another game changer as well as a life saver.
  
  
• Schedule your LinkedIn – LinkedIn now even offers a scheduling feature so you can batch once a month and schedule all your LinkedIn content in advance! Use it. No excuses.

One client tells me instead of hiring a cleaner she hired a cook. Her teenage sons were eating more and more and she simply couldn’t keep up with the food provisioning in combination with her high pressure role. So she hired someone to come in once a week, do the shopping, cook a bunch of meals and stack the freezer once she was done. Presto! Happy, healthy, growing teenagers and a less stressed working mum with more time on her hands.

Systems don’t have to be complicated to work. They just need to remove your reliance on thinking and willpower, or clear up clutter.

After all, you wouldn’t keep Tim Tams in the cupboard if you were going on a diet. It’s too exhausting resisting the lure, and you’ll end up slipping one day anyway and eating the whole packet anyway.

In order to become a Standout CEO, you need to free up your brain to allow you to focus on the things that matter most. Faffing around with piddly life and career admin is a drain especially if you don’t need to. Put a system around it so you can lead and succeed more easily.